Itemized: M.I.A. Bad Girls USB Necklace

Every week a different FADER staff member will pick a clothing item or accessory that he or she has lately been spending a lot of time with—or would like to—and write a little love letter to it. We would’ve done a column on who we’re dating but that seemed a little bit much. This week Duncan Cooper talks about his M.I.A. "Bad Girls" USB necklace.

The day I got M.I.A.’s USB necklace—$50 on her own site, 2GB and loaded with three "Bad Girls" remixes—a rapper came to FADER offices. The USB is gold-plated, and so were this guy's teeth. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, but he wore gold rings and necklaces. His eyes widened as he spied the necklace on my desk, then stretched even bigger as he put it on and discovered it opened to reveal a USB drive. M.I.A. might've been the first person to gild a fake BMW key and release music on it, but I hope she's not the last to make a special vehicle for her tracks. Riff Raff could do a USB hair brush, or Kanye could do a little hand mirror. I mean, look, I'm not wearing this around. It's more like desk art, and I'm going to plug and unplug the hell out of it. When I'm done copying TPS reports or whatever, I keep this next to my computer and the chain snakes around the table in a fancy tangle. I used to lose my dinky old USB in a drawer every other time I used it. Never again.

CONTEST: Win your own M.I.A. USB necklaceTo help spread the good office vibes, we're giving away one of these bad girls. Comment below using your real email address with your favorite M.I.A. song OR suggest another object you'd next like to see turned into a USB drive. Contest is over, thanks everybody!